page_title: Queen (butterfly)
section_title: Distribution and habitat
hierarchical_section_title: Queen (butterfly) / Distribution and habitat
caption_attribution_description: English: Monarch butterfly feeding on twining milkweed vine. Poets Square Neighborhood, Tucson, AZ
context_page_description: The queen butterfly is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae with a wingspan of 70–88 mm. It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface, and reddish ventral wing surface fairly similar to the dorsal surface. The ventral hindwings have black veins and small white spots in a black border. The male has a black androconial scent patch on its dorsal hindwings. It is found throughout the tropics and into the temperate regions of the Americas, Asia and Africa. It can be found in meadows, fields, marshes, deserts, and at the edges of forests.
  This species is possibly a close relative to the similarly colored soldier butterfly; in any case, it is not close to the plain tiger as was long believed. There are seven subspecies.
  Females lay one egg at a time on larval host plants. Larvae use these plants as a food source, whereas adult butterflies feed mainly on nectar from flowers. Unpalatability to avian predators is a feature of the butterfly; however, its level is highly variable.
context_section_description: The queen belongs to a family (Danaidae) that is common to both New and Old Worlds, specifically found throughout the tropics and into the temperate regions of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Stray specimens are found in Europe.
  The queen is chiefly a tropical species. In the US, it is usually confined to the southern portion of the country. It can be found regularly in peninsular Florida and southern Georgia, as well as in the southern portions of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Occasionally, the subspecies of the queen can be found somewhat north, in Kansas, Colorado, and Utah. Periodically, a stray may be found in the Midwest, such as in Missouri. The berenice subspecies is found largely in the Southeast and the strigosus in the Southwest. The queen is also found in Cuba.
  It is more common in southern Central America, with numbers beginning to rise in Mexico. The queen can be found as far south as Argentina.
  Although the queen does not undertake dramatic migrations like the monarch, most undertake short-distance travel at tropical latitudes in areas that have a distinct dry season. During those periods, the queen will fly from lowlands to high elevations.
  Throughout its distribution, the queen can be found on open land, in meadows, fields, and marshes. It displays a more xeric preference in Hispaniola and will fly to the edge of, but seldom penetrate, hammocks and forests. In the southern US, the queen prefers open woodland, fields, and desert. Most likely they are found wherever milkweeds grow.
caption: Queen butterfly feeding on Funastrum cynanchoides, Tucson, AZ
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